Sunday, September 16

I love Sundays!! For one reason, they are so relaxing . . . I don't plan anything so I can spend the afternoon updating my blog (like now) or reading or drinking coffee or praying or whatever!  Secondly, I love going to church.  I wish that each one of you could come visit Iglesia Bautista Evangelica de Macoris.  It is such a wonderful church.  There is such a sweet spirit of worship every Sunday, both morning and evening.  Many of the songs are the same as what we sing in English, however, because they are in Spanish, I have to trranslate them in my head and it forces me to really think about the words more than I do in English.  Sometimes I don't know the words, but I can get the main idea and then I just dwell on that.  The music is so wonderful too - great singing with very talented musicians playing the guitar, drums, bongos, piano, etc.  I also love to watch the sincere love for and devotion to God on the expressions of the people.  So moving. One particular woman catches my attention.  She is the head of the finances for the school.  She reminds me a little bit of my mom - very serious much of the time, very educated in the area of money and demonstrates a true love for God.  She left a very important position at a very well-paying job to come to work at the school, knowing that finances would be so tight and that she might not get paid the first year of school.  As an American, I am usually amazed by the simple lives and pure love for God of the people who have nothing.  But this woman has just stuck out in my head . . . she had "everything" according to the world and yet she chose simple service for her Lord.  To see her hand raised and hear her sing to Him, challenges me immensely. 

Another thing that has been so neat about church is that I don't know a lot of Spanish but I am able to understand the service by following along in my Spanish/English Bible (thanks, Bro. Lewis)  and listening hard.  For the last 2 weeks, the Sunday morning sermon has been almost exactly what I read or prayed about in my devotions that morning.  Funny how God can work like that no matter where you are.  His Word and His Spirit are not bound by language barriers.  He has really been working on me through the messages and the songs to have a heart that desires Him, to cut out things that are distracting and plans for the future and just focus on Him and what He is doing right now and how great He is.  During the week, I get so busy with school and so distracted even when I do come to Him.  I want to have a heart of worship that listents to Him all the time, even in the busy moments.

Trip to the Beach

Saturday was beach day!  Mary, Suzanne, and I had not been to the beach yet and so we decided to ride the bus to Guayacanes Beach to see the clear blue water.  It was a perfect day, the sun was shining but not too hot (in fact, just before we left we actually go cold for the first time in a month!).  I think I might be coming back here soon for another relaxing afternoon!

 

As much fun as the beach was, the best parts of the day were #1 - going to the baseball field in the morning and interacting with the people and seeing some of my students there and #2 - speaking (IN SPANISH) to the woman sitting next to me on the bus.  Our conversation was very difficult, with much repetition, but I had the courage to try, yay!!  And she was a Christian, so we were able to talk about our churches a little!

Trip to Carlos David's House

A couple of weeks ago, the parents of one of my 5th graders, Carlos David, asked if I wanted to come over to eat with them.  I was very excited when I agreed, but afterwards I got so nervous realizing that I was going to have to actually carry on a conversation with them.  If you know me, you know how difficult that can be in English sometimes, let alone another culture and language.  However, the dad speaks English, and when I went to their house on Thursday night it was very easy to converse.  He was not only very talkative, but he had also taught English for a while and had traveled to Israel and to Boston, where he had to speak English.  We talked about the culture and their family.  He told me of many beautfiul places in the Dominican Republic.  They also invited me to go to another town in the countryside with them this Wednesday.  We will go visit his mother and then go to a Bible study in another place.  I am so excited to go with them, they are a neat family.  He is an engineer and she is a doctor or nurse (not exactly sure because she doesn't speak English . . . I guess I am going to have to pracitce my Spanish with her :).  They have 2 kids - Carlos David and Amber, a third grader.  They grew up in the Catholic church and she was a nun for a while.  Then they left the Catholic church.  I am not sure where they go to church now, but I think that they are believers.  It is always exciting to see how God is working/has worked in other people's lives.

Spanish Lessons

Well, I finally decided that it was worth it to pay for Spanish lessons so that I could learn it faster.  Although, I could probably study on my own, I don't seem to have the motivation by the time I finish my schoolwork each day.  I am taking lessons from Julie, my co-teacher.  She's great!  Our class consists of 2 guys from YWAM (youth with a mission), Mary - 3 month intern with the women's ministry here, and me.  The 2 guys have been taking lessons for a while and Mary and I have both had Spanish previously, so we are all about on the same level.  I actually remembered more than I thought in some ways but I have forgotten a lot of the conjugations and meanings of words.  I guess 10 years out of Spanish class with no practice will do that to you.  That should come back pretty quickly, though.  Julie just said that Mary and I need "hablar, hablar, hablar."  If we practice speaking for an hour a day, it will come pretty quickly she says, which is probably true, but I get so nervous to speak it . . . especially when I only know 2 or 3 words in a sentence.  I tried speaking to our secretary Evelyn and my teaching assistant Ronand in Spanish; and even though they were easy sentences and I knew all of the words, I got so nervous that only half of it came out in a VERY American accent. . . Practice, practice, practice!

Josiah's House

Nearly every Sunday night we have the boys from Josiah's House come to IBEM with their "house grandparents," Bob and Diane Spencer.  There are 8 adorable boys all around the same age . . . I would guess 7-10 years old, some Haitian, some Dominican.  A couple of them attend Las Palmas for school.




 This Sunday night, I sat behind them.  And, of course, kids always attract my attention, so I watched them sing and interact with their house parents.  Diane would raise her hand and sing so sincerely to the Lord.  One little boy next to her looked at her very intently a couple times.  The next song he was raising his hand and singing with all his heart . . . not looking at Diane to see if she was paying him attention.  It brought tears to my eyes to think of where this little boy could have been, but Sunday night he was in church watching a godly woman set a wonderful example for him.  He was learning how to worship this God that had pulled him from some tough circumstances.  How great is our God!

Here are some pictures from the dedication of Josiah's House in July.  It is a ministry of SCORE.

Bob and Diane

 

P.S.  If you are wondering why I called them "house grandparents," it is because Diane told me that they are looking for Dominican house parents.  Until then, they are in charge of the boys and the boys call them "abuela" and "abuelo."

First Week of School

 

Well, the first week of school was great, but so hectic!  It has turned out to be a blessing that I am teaching 4^th and 5^th grade, which I knew it would be. 

Fun-loving 5th Grade

First of all, my kids are so sweet even though I have had to be really hard on them.  (and, no, I am not just saying that.  I have had to be tougher than I ever have before, in a good way).  Fifth grade was the
grade that worried me
most simply because
it was older than what
I had taught before, but
they are great kids! 

Secondly, because they are learning
English as their second language, I am having to use some of the curriculum that I had used for third and fourth grade before and it is sooooo helpful to have a background with the curriculum!  It makes lesson planning so much easier when you know what is coming up in the curriculum! 

Adorable 4th Grade

My teaching partner Julie is so wonderful . . .

Julie and her husband Domingo

      so kind and very helpful.  She teaches Spanish to a lot of the missionaries so she speaks English pretty well.  That is a huge blessing because my Spanish is terrible!



Here are some of pictures of my classroom, although it is hard to tell what it really looks like. 

Before . . .

My favorite part of the room - this beautiful cabinet
to keep all of my books,etc. in!



My desk, books, and chalkboard

Making progress: the chalkboard and calendar are up and there are 21 desks in the room now

And after  . . . (My theme for the beginning of the year is volleyball, in case you couldn’t figure that out).

Good work "bulletin board"

 

Classroom jobs.  It is not posted, but the verse that is
supposed to be next to this is Philippians 2:5-7 "Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who . . . took upon Him the form of a servant"

Class Rules

"Getting to Know You" activity for the first day

Psalm 9:1

This morning I read Psalm 9:1.  “I will praise Thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works.”  That’s about as far as I got because I really had to stop and dwell on the words. 

“with my whole heart” – I need to improve in the area of praising Him, but with my
                                                        whole heart?  Now there’s a challenge.  When was the last
                                                        time I thought about pouring myself out solely for Him,
                                                        reserving nothing for me?

            “show forth all Thy marvelous works” – in my words I say that I am going to do
                                                                                             exactly this but frequently my actions are
                                                                                             more about me than Him.  It is so easy to
                                                                                             get up in ourselves and miss what He is
                                                                                             doing!  Forgive us, Lord!

So we all know that God always surprises us in the way He works . . . well, I know very little Spanish, yet today in church each of the first 3 songs were speaking of praising (alabanza) Him and His works (obras) – 2 words that I know!  I always sing along, but this time I was able to sing of what I had been reading that morning and truly praise Him for it!

Speaking of His marvelous works . . . we had a college student get saved today!!!  Luz lives near the new director of the school and they invited her to come to church several weeks ago even though they speak little Spanish and she even less English.  She came and has been coming.  I had the opportunity to go to lunch with them all last Sunday and meet her.  Today she came to church and after a powerful message from Titus 3 accepted Christ!!

God is good all the time . . . all the time God is good!

Traveling

Day 1 in the DR

It’s time!  We left the house at 4:05am to head to Port Columbus International Airport.  After spending a week of packing and re-packing, checking lists and re-checking lists, I was ready to go. 

My itinerary was:
6:00am – 7:30am Columbus to Atlanta.

Board in Atlanta immediately after landing.
8:15am – 11:55am Atlanta to San Juan , Puerto Rico

Arrive in San Juan and stay for 6 hours
6:20 pm -7:32pm San Juan to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Arrive in Santo Domingo, go through customs, meet the person picking me up at the airport.
Drive about an hour to San Pedro de Macoris.
Meet my new home.

Traveling to San Juan and Santo Domingo by myself was interesting.  Although I have flown overseas more than once, this was the first time on my own.  I have to say, I think it is more fun traveling with other people . . . it is kind of hard to entertain yourself in an airport for 6 hours with no cell phone and no internet J  Really, though, there were no problems – I made it through security, my bags weren’t overweight, they arrived properly in Santo Domingo, no major “mishaps.”

So far the only thing that I realized I don’t have is my camera cord to post pictures from my camera L  Will have to figure out how to fix that . . .

Blog Name

When I was trying to decide what name to choose for my blog, I had all kinds of ideas running through my head (none that creative because I am not a creative person, but ideas nonetheless).  I looked through one of my favorite passages which you see below: Psalm 78.  Over and over as I read through the Psalms and even the prophets, I am amazed at how we are told to declare the works and the glory and the name of the Lord!  I remember when I read that for the first time.  I just couldn't believe that that's what God has called us to do.  So simple, yet so huge.  I thought it was much mroe complicated.  So that is where the name for the blog came from.  I am going to the Dominican Republic in a couple months, and I'm excited!  Yet the job there will be the same job I had with my students here - declaring the works of God.  Sometimes when I tell people that I am going overseas to teach, I feel as though they put me on a pedestal, like I am doing some great thing.  It is God that does the great things and we just get the privilege to tell about them.

that children might know

“We will . . . [show] to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”  Psalm 78:4-7

that the children might know